How to fix Windows when it fails to boot

I've only been regularly viewing posts in this forum for a few months but in the short span of time I've read an astounding number of posts where people using Windows 7 & 8 are caught with their pants down due to a failure to boot and the lack of a Windows Repair Disk. If you ever find yourself unable to boot Windows, be that from software, hardware, or malware problems, you are definitely going to need an alternative media that boots to WinPE, a mini version of Windows that can be fully loaded from an optical drive (CD/DVD) or flash drive (USB). Without that, your ability to diagnose and fix boot problems (and to salvage user files) drops to practically nil. As such, Windows users who find themselves facing such a dilemma, are likely looking at doing a full system restore and losing everything on their hard drives. Therefore, I would strongly recommend that everyone using Windows 7 and 8 create a repair disk. I realize that most people who come looking for help here are already in trouble and no longer in a position to help themselves by creating a repair disk. And as for the regular viewers/posters, I'm just preaching to the choir. Nevertheless, I offer this humble advice in the hopes that it persuades at least a few people to finally go ahead and do it, thereby protecting them in the future.

In the past, when you purchased a computer, the OS was not preinstalled but rather provided on a set of installation disk, disks that could serve the same purposes as a repair disk (and more) should boot issues arise. Over the last few years, manufacturers have turned to selling computers with the Windows OS preinstalled and sans the installation disks. Consequently the vast majority of us who didn't build his/her own computer do not have Windows installation disks. But we still have need for what they provide: a means of booting an unbootable system. Fortunately, Windows 7 and 8 come with preinstalled software that allows every user the opportunity to create a Windows Repair Disk. Unfortunately, too few of us have capitalized on that opportunity and have left ourselves open to data loss due to all too frequent boot problems.

Creating a repair disk is simple. Here is a link to the Microsoft KB that describes how to make a repair disk in Windows 7:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/create-a-system-repair-disc

And here's a link to the very cool BleepingComputer website that describes an alternate method of creating a repair disk in both Windows 7 and 8:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/create-a-windows-system-repair-disc/

Additionally, I've attached an article that provides step by step instructions on how to use a repair disk to diagnose and repair boot problems. I downloaded it some time ago from Tom's Hardware Forum at: http://www.tomshardware.com but unfortunately, the article has since been purged and can no longer be linked to directly.

Go ahead. Do it right now. It only takes 2 or 3 minutes to make the disk..

 

You hit the nail on the head for me rustysavage. I just burned one earlier today, actually. It's for Paragon Backup and Restore, so that I can move a good image over to new main drive if I need to do so.

Definitely any tool that enables one to manage files on a misbehaving drive is an absolute necessity these days. Thanks for the post...

 

Good for you, man. I'm definitely a big supporter of disk imaging backup methods. This forum would probably shrivel up if everyone used programs like Paragon. Obviously, I'm also a zealot about making bootable repair disks. I rag on my friends about it so much they've taken to calling me "Disko" (combination of "disk" and "psycho").

Hey, I wanted to thank you for everything you did for Mr. Magoo. You really stuck with it despite the apparent futility (good thing it didn't seem futile to you). Before you stepped in it was just him and me, stumbling around in the dark. So, I thank you and I'm sure he thanks you. Have a nice holiday